Mobile phone scam please read

karl_curtis

Like many parents my 13 yrs old son has a mobile phone in my name.Phine is £8.50 a month and went on line today to look at his bill.I was shocked to see this was £28.At first i thought he had been dialing premium rate calls or d/l ringtones etc but it appears that he ha been the victim of a scam.What they do is phone your number then hang up. He then saw a missed call and was curious and phoned back several times which resulted in a bill of £19.50. The number is 07033339031, so be warned if you see this number as a missed call under no circumstances call it back or you could be paying out lots of money for nothing.My mobile company told me that they cant barr this number and thta we are responsibke for the bill.

sporedude

To be fair you are responsible for the bill.

gromituk

Common scam which every parent should tell their children about. If someone wants to contact you they'll leave it for long enough for you to answer, or leave a message.

OneADay

I made a complaint to Ofcom about 070 numbers (personal numbers) and received a reply saying.

"Ofcom is responsible for allocating 070 number ranges as well as the policy involved in their use. However, PhonePayPlus (PPP) is responsible for the content and advertising of 070 number offering premium rate style services. For further information or to make a complaint, you can contact PPP at:

PhonepayPlus
Clove Building
4 Maguire Street
London
SE1 2NQ
Tel 0845 026 1060
http:/phonepayplus.org.uk

Inactive

Perhaps a PAYG phone may be more appropriate.;)

wantmemoney

karl_curtis wrote:

Like many parents my 13 yrs old son has a mobile phone in my name.Phine is £8.50 a month and went on line today to look at his bill.I was shocked to see this was £28.

Karl you and your son have been victims of an ongoing mass marketed fraud. Criminals are using Automatic Dialing Equipment to call millions of phones to leave these missed calls. If the numbers are called the victim will hear a recording of a dialing tone not realising they have been connected (and being charged 60p/call and 60p/min ).

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/07033380005
07033380005 phone number comments:
Abby- 12 Aug 2009
I have had 2 calls from 07033 380005. I tried ringing it back but even though it didn't connect, my call counter was going up. I rang Orange tonight and found out that 2 calls I made to the number (15 seconds and 6 seconds respectively) had cost me over £1. They have refunded this but please be careful and DO NOT RING THIS NUMBER BACK!!!

070333xxxxx numbers belong to Cheers International. They account for almost a third of all missed calls using 070 numbers.
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Calls.aspx/070
This Network Operators like Vodafone share the revenue with Cheers. They are making millions and the regulators are turning a blind eye to the fraud and a deaf ear to the complaints of the victims.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/07033376934
07033376934 phone number comments:
- 30 Dec 2007This No calls at all time of day and night phone only rings for 1 ring then shows missed call on your phone in last month have had 12 calls WHO are they??????

karl_curtis

Thanks for all the replies. seems like this is a "legal" if not highly imoral scam. I will write to the various watchdogs but won't hold my breath. also if Virgin Media are alo making money out of this I will try and badger them to remove the chrages. It's amazing how persuausive an argument for removing these charges can be faced with the throught of losing best part of £800 from one customer can be.

Jon_01

I've never understood this need to call back numbers that you miss picking up ?

If it anything worth while they'll call you back. . .

karl_curtis

I agree Jon, but you got to remember the actions of a 13yrs old boy who would hate to miss a call from a girl who may fancy him is far too strong a temptation.

gem599

Just to say this is still going on... had a call from 07033 322482 today and it only rang 3 times before it hung up and registered as a missed call. Thanks to you good people I didn't phone them back!

DarkConvict

If i miss calls i ring back, but one of my friends rings from 5-6 different numbers so i always assume it is him and it always has been so far.

Ill be more careful, i just wish all 07 numbers were mobiles, no question.